Dalley calls for increase in minimum wage

Opposition Spokesman on Labour Horace Dalley says the Government needs to urgently increase the minimum wage, which has been $6,200 per a 40-hour work week since January 2016.

“Mr Speaker, I say to the Minister of Labour, I say to the Prime Minister, I say to the Minister of Finance, I say to the Government, the Cabinet the ordinary working people of Jamaica cannot wait for two years for an increase in the minimum wage, they can’t wait,” Dalley declared in his presentation in the Sectoral Presentation in the House of Representatives yesterday.

It was reported that Minister of Labour Shahine Robinson was expected to announce the new minimum wage, but she did address the House.

Dalley added, “Mr Speaker, I know as a fact that the National Minimum Wage Advisory Commission has been meeting for the last two and a half years because the last time the minimum wage was increased, it was increased by us,”.

According to him, while he was Labour Minister there was an agreement with the Jamaica Employers’ Federation that the minimum wage would be disclosed every January so employers could prepare.